Dear agencies - please try not to waste everyone's time time Thread poster: Tom in London
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:28
Member (2008)
Italian to English
I had the following email exchange today:
THEIR MESSAGE
On 8 Feb 2016, at 12:29, XXXXX via ProZ.com wrote:
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You have been sent a message via ProZ.com.
Author: XXXX Author's Profile: XXXXX
Author's IP address: XXXXX
Message type: Job-related
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Dear Tom,
Established in XXXXX since 2002, XXXXX is a
translation company specialised in investment funds and
insurance.
<... See more I had the following email exchange today:
THEIR MESSAGE
On 8 Feb 2016, at 12:29, XXXXX via ProZ.com wrote:
-----------
You have been sent a message via ProZ.com.
Author: XXXX Author's Profile: XXXXX
Author's IP address: XXXXX
Message type: Job-related
-----------
Dear Tom,
Established in XXXXX since 2002, XXXXX is a
translation company specialised in investment funds and
insurance.
We are currently seeking a freelance translator who
would be available to work with us on the translation of
some 2000 words
(financial contract) from It in EN.
Please let me know if you are interested in working with
us and I will get back to you with a detailed
questionnaire.
Yours sincerely,
___________________________
MY REPLY
Sorry but I don’t translate financial contracts. My fields of specialisation are clearly shown in my profile.
Regards
Tom
___________________________
MY MESSAGE TO ALL AGENCIES
Dear Agencies,
Please don't just email everyone at random. You're wasting a lot of time for a lot of people - including yourselves.
[Edited at 2016-02-09 09:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Steffen Walter 
Germany
Local time: 22:28
Member (2002)
English to German
+ ...
| Actual jobs vs. desperately looking for freelancers | Feb 8, 2016 |
"... and I will get back to you with a detailed questionnaire." - Yeah, right ...
To which I would have replied:
"Dear Agency,
Please clarify if you actually intend to assign a specific translation job or if you are just looking for freelancers to be entered in your database."
Why on earth would they want you to fill in a (presumably lengthy) questionnaire if they were to assign a specific job as quickly as possible?
| | | | | At least .... | Feb 8, 2016 |
... they told you it was a financial contract. My open letter to agencies would say:
a) Don't just say "We have a document that needs translating" without giving any hint as to what the document is about.
b) Don't ask me to send lots of information about myself when you haven't told me who you are or even what country you're in.
| | | | 564354352 (X)
Denmark
Local time: 22:28
Danish to English
+ ...
| On the other hand... | Feb 9, 2016 |
I agree, it is annoying to get emails addressed to 'Dear Translator', knowing that the sender has not bothered to check your profile for details.
However, it only takes a minute to send a polite reply that leaves the door open to possible future collaboration in your expert fields.
I just sent such a reply this morning. Didn't hurt one little bit...
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ahartje
Portugal
Local time: 21:28
Member (2006)
German to Portuguese
+ ...
| Yes, please, agency XXX... | Feb 9, 2016 |
feel free to contact me, including NDA, forms to fill in, requested copies of all imaginable personal data I collected over the years, but also state from the beginning:
that you are willing to offer 0,04US$/source word
for my work.
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Shouldn't ignore people's posted rates (if any) and shouldn't just freaking simply pretty much always be only looking for discounted rates. And shouldn't bother people with huge questionnaires and contracts for short jobs. Here's something a colleague's just said in a Polish group on Facebook: Never make a small deal with a big corporation.
Naturally, the above is a sweeping generalization, which is because we're talking in general rather than only discussing the OP's example.
| | | | Joakim Braun
Sweden
Local time: 22:28
German to Swedish
+ ...
If I was outsourcing stuff, I'd much rather try to place it with a really good translator who isn't a specialist, than a bad translator who is.
Good translators solve the problem, and pick up jargon instantly.
Bad translators aren't even aware there is a problem.
| | | | Joakim Braun
Sweden
Local time: 22:28
German to Swedish
+ ...
ahartje wrote:
that you are willing to offer 0,04US$/source word
MAKE BIG BUCK$$$ ON THE INTERNET FROM HOME
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| Agencies that lose the information you have already sent | Feb 9, 2016 |
About eight months ago I was contacted by an agency in the US and they asked me to scan and send them documents and complete their questionnaire. It took me over half an hour. However, last week I received an email from a different person who works for the same agency, though initially I didn't remember them:
They wrote:
... We are currently looking for Spanish into English translators. We currently seek linguists specializing in the following fields:
Medic... See more About eight months ago I was contacted by an agency in the US and they asked me to scan and send them documents and complete their questionnaire. It took me over half an hour. However, last week I received an email from a different person who works for the same agency, though initially I didn't remember them:
They wrote:
... We are currently looking for Spanish into English translators. We currently seek linguists specializing in the following fields:
Medical
Technical
IT
Legal
Financial
Marketing
If you're interested, please send your rates and resume to...
A couple of emails later, I replied:
...I've just been looking through my records and I've already signed your NDA. However, I don't recall ever working for you...
Their reply:
Thank you for letting us know, however we couldn't find your information in our database. Could you fill out the documents in the attachment and return to us at your earliest convenience? So that I can provide you with a short sample test. Thanks.
Three emails later (I told them the date I had sent the information) they wrote:
If that is the case, would you be able to fill out the forms again? I am really sorry about the inconvenience. It could be there were some personal change in the company.
My final reply:
I'm afraid I've just started working on a long project, which means I won't have time to fill out the forms for at least another two weeks.
And I sent the whole thread into the bin! ▲ Collapse
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